Is it appropriate for a nonprofit to invest in their own growth? What percentage of an organization’s funding should be reserved for investment in building and managing the organization? There are several high-profile examples of organizations that are clearly doing it wrong, causing many to question which organizations are worth supporting. As a result, several charity benchmark websites have appeared, providing a seemingly precise evaluation of any charity’s efficiency in just a few clicks, but is this an accurate assessment of a nonprofit? Many nonprofit leaders say no.

Nonprofits are continuously presented with opportunities to engage with constituents – partners, volunteers, advocates, donors, the beneficiaries of the mission and more. While some organizations rise to the challenge and provide a rich engagement experience to those seeking to connect, other times organizations miss an opportunity to meet constituents with the right type of engagement at the right time. Those missed opportunities can translate to loss of connection, loss of dollars, loss of goodwill and loss of motivation to do more with the organization. To help nonprofits understand the impact this can have, Heller has created the paper Taking Engagement Seriously to explain how to develop an Engagement Strategy, and clarify how it can influence how your organization approaches all of your constituent engagement efforts. We covered the first step in planning an engagement strategy in our blog post on the CRM System. Step two focuses on developing an engagement strategy.

The 21st century consumer is accustomed to a personalized, seamless experience in everything they do. It’s simple to find old friends and stay in touch through Facebook, watch all of their favorite shows on Netflix, or order necessities off Amazon and have them delivered to their door the next day. The commercial sector strives to get to know their customers and understand their needs so they can quickly and easily fulfill their requests.

Failure to engage with constituents results in a loss of connection, dollars, and goodwill. So often, organizations believe that a large CRM technology change will be the key to solving all of their constituent engagement problems. Unfortunately, technology is one piece in a much larger puzzle. In this executive summary of Heller Consulting’s paper, Taking Engagement Seriously, they discuss the many components that go into a CRM solution including aligning business practices, planned engagement strategy, and the right technology.

Nonprofits are continuously presented with opportunities to engage with constituents – partners, volunteers, advocates, donors, the beneficiaries of the mission and more. While some organizations rise to the challenge and provide a rich engagement experience to those seeking to connect, other times organizations miss an opportunity to meet constituents with the right type of engagement at the right time. Those missed opportunities can translate to loss of connection, loss of dollars, loss of goodwill and loss of motivation to do more with the organization. To help nonprofits understand the impact this can have, Heller has created the paper Taking Engagement Seriously to explain how to develop an Engagement Strategy, and clarify how it can influence how your organization approaches all of your constituent engagement efforts.